


Wanna Save Your Heart

by PigSlay



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alcohol, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Autistic Liam, Disabled Character, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Gun Violence, I'm autistic so yeah, M/M, Sex Mentions, autistic Liam's symptoms are based on mine
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-17
Updated: 2015-08-17
Packaged: 2018-04-14 12:56:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 13,426
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4565472
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PigSlay/pseuds/PigSlay
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Zayn and Liam "Zap and Lightning" are superheroes who pretend to be a couple in order to befriend the villains in question on a couples cruise.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Ninja (helluvalot)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/helluvalot/gifts).



> I don’t know One Direction. 
> 
> PHEW. *wipes sweat*
> 
> So, alright, when one of my favorite authors said "this trope (the superhero trope) is not easy" I thought to myself "what? How could it be that hard? It's just the boys with superpowers, that sounds awesome". But now that I've actually written it, I feel bad for ever doubting them. This trope IS difficult. Hahaha. But it was also fun because I've never done the superheroes OR the fake dating trope before now, so it was like stepping outside my comfort zone, and it was fun, despite the hardships.
> 
> To the person receiving this fic: I originally started writing a canon-compliant fic about Liam making jokes about Zayn leaving to cope with it, and Zayn taking it the wrong way (“MISUNDERSTANDINGS/PINING”) but I just wasn’t feeling it and it kind of felt more like a chore to write than fun most of the time. :/ So I started over on a new fic 28 days before the due date. SO here’s hoping it turned out alright! 
> 
> Also, the Nouis wasn't originally planned. I had tried to make it Narry instead since I looked through your other "Gifts" and saw that you had gotten a Narry fic for the girl direction exchange (and I love Narry), but my brain was like "nah, this is gonna be side Nouis and you're gonna like it" so I only hope YOU like it, Ninja.
> 
> THANK YOU to Sarah and Janee for being my cheerleaders/brainstorm buddies. You all rock and I'm pretty sure without you guys I would've just given up and not completed this fic, or I would've completed it not feeling confident in it at all. So yes, THANK YOU SOOO MUCH.
> 
> Also thank you to tumblr user ispiorad for being my beta, and to the mods of this exchange for granting me an extension.
> 
> My blood, sweat, and tears have truly been shed into this fic so I hope you all like it. Hahaha.

Liam loves being a superhero most of the time, but sometimes it can get on his last nerve. Not because he doesn’t like helping people, or because he doesn’t want to make the world a better place, but because it takes so much effort. Between the itchy costumes, trying to keep an identity secret, and coming up with constant excuses about why he has to request so many days off from work, it’s so much more pain than it’s worth sometimes.

And the dizziness. Gosh, don’t get Liam _started_ on the dizziness. You’d think having super speed as a power would mean you never get dizzy or tired from running so much, but he does. A lot.

“That’s ridiculous,” Zayn had said one time, giggling. “You’d think since we have super powers and all, we’d be exempt from things like dizziness and tiredness when we use them for a long time.” Liam had just shrugged and agreed.

Zayn. Zayn is Liam’s partner in crime – er, in stopping crime. Liam remembers when he had went to meet Simon for the very first time and saw Zayn was there too, he had instantly gotten so giddy. The two of them had been besties forever, and now were going to stop crime together. It was like every ten year old boy’s dream come true.

Back in the present, Liam swipes his card once, effectively switching from daytime monotony to the most exciting part of his life: being a superhero with his best friend and saving so many people around the world.

“Hey Liam!” Someone calls from behind him. He turns around, and Harry’s waving him towards his cubicle. Liam bites his lip as he looks at the time, worried Simon and/or Zayn will be angry at him for being late, but he can never resist Harry, so he walks over to Harry’s cubicle.

“What’s up?” Liam asks, sitting down on one of the extra chairs.

“I was wondering,” Harry starts, playing with his fingers a little bit. Liam thinks it must be like a nervous habit or something. He does the same thing whenever he has to give a presentation to their bosses. “Are you free on Saturday?”

Liam raises an eyebrow. “Free as in…?” He knows Harry is currently seeing someone else, or at least that’s what he said last week, so he can’t be hitting on Liam… right?

“No, not like that,” Harry sputters, probably seeing where Liam’s thought process is going. “I was just thinking, like. You, me, Niall, and Louis haven’t really done anything all together in a while. I was wondering if maybe we could all go bowling together or something.”

“And you’ve already asked the other two about this as well?” Liam asks, impressed.

“Well… no,” Harry admits, blushing. Liam starts laughing loudly. “But I know they’ll say yes. Come on, please?”

When Harry is giving him that puppy dog face, how can Liam say no? “Fine. I mean… I’ll try. I’ll check and see what I have going on that day and get back to you.”

“Yes!” Harry cheers, taking that as a win. “See you tomorrow, Liam.”

“See you tomorrow, Harry,” Liam replies, waving goodbye and finally going to leave.

When he gets outside, Zayn’s there. “Took you long enough,” he says, although there’s a slight smile creeping up on his lips.

“Yeah, Harry wanted to know if I was doing anything Saturday,” Liam tells him.

Zayn giggles. “Is he still trying to get with you?”

Liam shakes his head fondly. “Nah, he’s already got someone I think. He just wanted to know if I could hang out with him and the other boys on Saturday.”

“Well, I hope you end up being able to. I know how much you miss those group bar nights you all used to share.” Zayn motions over his shoulder. “Now come on, let’s get in the car. We gotta go change into our costumes quickly. You know how Simon gets when we’re late.”

Liam nods in agreement, folding himself in the passenger seat as Zayn slides into the driver's side. He peels away from the curb, tires squealing, and Liam recoils slightly at the sound, as well as the various car horns he hears once they’re on the way to his house.

It's closer to the office, and anyway Liam needs to get his costume. A glance towards the backseat confirms what he already suspected. Zayn's got his packed in the backseat, prepared as always.

At the house, Liam only has to rummage through his laundry pile for a few minutes before he unearths the familiar blue and gold spandex. Zayn's already locked himself in the bathroom, changing into his own costume, so there's no one to witness the way Liam trips, one foot stuck in the leg of his suit, swearing under his breath when he knocks into the wall.

"You all right, Liam?" Zayn calls, voice echoing against the tiled bathroom wall.

"Just great! Totally awesome," Liam yells back, yanking the costume the rest of the way up his legs with a grunt. Once they're both dressed, Zayn looking perfectly coiffed, not a hair out of place, and Liam still a little red in the cheeks, they step outside, standing side by side on Liam's back patio.

Zayn grabs hold of Liam's hand, squeezing his fingers. "You ready?"

"I was born ready," Liam says, and Zayn laughs. He can't feel it all when Zayn turns them invisible, but it jars him the same way it always does, how he's staring down at his hand in Zayn's one moment, and looking at nothing the next. Then Zayn's tugging at him, their fingers still laced together, and Liam's feet leave the patio as Zayn flies them upwards, towards Simon's office in the clouds.

Every time they land, Liam always holds onto Zayn a beat longer after they’ve turned visible again, scared that if he lets go too fast that both of them will fall back down to the ground.

Zayn just always waits for him to take the time he needs to compose himself, smiling to let Liam know he’s safe and that Zayn won’t let him get hurt. It’s very comforting. Once the two boys separate, they both click the buttons on their watches that signal to Simon they’re here.

Liam is always slightly taken aback whenever he first enters the office. How could anyone not be? It’s full of paintings hanging from the blue walls and the walls and floors are so hard that you wouldn’t believe it’s sitting on a cloud instead of the ground.

He’ll never understand how Simon and his other workers were able to build an actual office on a cloud that only superheroes can see, but he always chooses to just admire it instead of questioning it.

“Hello boys,” Simon says once they’ve found each other, obviously annoyed at them for being late. “How nice of you to grace us with your presence.”

Liam gulps. “Sorry, Simon. It’s my fault.” Technically it’s Harry’s fault, but he knows Simon hates it when they blame other people for their lateness.

“Well, let’s just hope they haven’t done any more damage in your absence,” he replies, and Liam’s eyes go to the floor. He’s always had trouble making eye contact when he can tell someone’s angry at him, and he definitely doesn’t trust his mouth to say anything more either.

Luckily, Zayn steps in. “Have you received any more threats from that Nick guy?”

“Not yet,” Simon responds. “But we’ve got a few others working on tracing his whereabouts right now.”

Zayn nods. “So have you got a new mission for us?”

“Yes.” He clears his throat. “This family – The Winstons. They’re primary suspects in several recent robberies. I need you two to befriend them and find out if they did these robberies, and what they’re planning next.”

Liam’s confused. “That kind of sounds like something the police should handle, not us.”

“Unfortunately, the police have tried, but can never find any evidence,” Simon continues, stroking his chin. “We think it’s because the Winstons have super powers. So if they stole gold for example, they could use their powers to turn it into a normal rock and no one would be able to tell it was ever gold.”

“How do we do it, then?” Liam asks, fidgeting with his outfit’s sleeves and returning his eyes to Simon’s.

“Well, we’ve figured out where they’re going next,” Simon starts, something in his eyes telling Liam he’s probably not going to like what he says next. “It’s a month long couple’s cruise. We need you two to pretend to be dating and go on the cruise.”

Liam and Zayn both start laughing loud and hard. The two of them… DATING? No way. That’s ridiculous. They’re best friends, nothing more. When Simon’s face remains unchanging though, the two boys stop laughing.

“You can’t be serious,” Liam says, even though he’s known Simon for years now and knows he’s never been a sarcastic person. “I can’t pretend to be dating him.”

“I’ll try not to take too much offense to that,” Zayn jokes, chuckling.

Liam pushes him playfully. “But seriously, we’re best mates. Why can’t we just go on the cruise as that?”

Simon seems to be getting impatient. “This is a rare opportunity to have close contact with them and gain their trust. We can't let this go to waste. Their defenses will be down if you pose as just another couple enjoying themselves. If you go there as just friends, both the Winstons and the people running the cruise will probably know something’s up.”

Liam exhales, long and tired. The idea of pretending to date his best friend is so weird to him. He silently thinks to himself ‘can I really pull this off?’

But he realizes Simon has a point. Plus, it’s a _cruise_. Liam’s always liked the idea of a cruise. How bad could it really be? “Alright,” he says finally. “I’m in.”

“Me too,” Zayn agrees, putting his arm around Liam’s back.

Simon smiles. “Good.” He reaches into his pocket, pulls out two brochures, and hands them to Zayn and Liam. “These will tell you all you need to know about the cruise: what parts of the world it’s heading to, the day it starts, and where you have to be at what time.”

Liam reads through it in mostly silence, and, pushing the dating aspect aside, it sounds incredible. How often does he get the chance to go on a cruise after all? He can't wait to get started.

“Wait,” Zayn starts. “How will we know what the Winstons look like?”

“Ah,” Simon replies. “I’m so glad you asked.” He reaches down and pulls out a file on the Winstons: what they look like, the various crimes they’ve been accused of, and a list of the times the police have gone through their house. Zayn and Liam read through them carefully and take in all the information as best they can.

Liam figures it should be easy enough to use his super speed and Zayn’s invisibility to sneak up on them when they’re robbing something, but what would they want off a cruise?

“Well,” Simon eventually says once he’s sure they’ve gotten the gist of it. “I guess that’s all for today then. I’ll make copies of the most important parts of their file for you all to keep.” Zayn and Liam step back while Simon picks up the papers and uses his powers to make copies of three of the pages.

Liam always thought copying was such a cool power; getting to make doubles of everything, even yourself. But he can barely handle one of himself, he imagines trying to handle more than that would make him lose it.

Simon hands them the copies. “Keep these in a safe place, and I’ll see you in a month.” He smiles as both of the other boys stuff the papers into their suits.

“See you in a month Simon,” Zayn says as Liam grabs onto him, preparing for the flight back down. Zayn’s slower and more careful this time than he was the way up, probably not wanting to accidentally drop the papers.

As they’re going back down, Liam remembers something. He has to call Harry and tell him he won’t be able to make it on Saturday, because he’s going on a freakin’ _cruise_. With _Zayn_ as his fake boyfriend.

They land at Liam’s doorstep. This is always the part that’s the most creepy to Liam - how his door just seemingly opens on its own and Liam’s pulled inside. It always freaks him out a bit, until he and Zayn finally turn visible again and close the door.

“So,” Liam draws out, taking the papers out of his suit. “Guess you and I are ‘dating’ now.”

Zayn smirks. “Guess so. Can’t really complain though. Who wouldn’t wanna date someone as cute as you?” He winks.

Liam feels something weird bubbling inside him, his heart racing like it’s trying to outrun a villain. He blames it on exhaustion and nothing more, just laughing. “Well, have you looked in the mirror lately? You’re not so bad yourself.”

Zayn giggles as well. “Come on, babe. Let’s save some flirting for the cruise, yeah?”

“Okay,” Liam agrees. “But I do think we should talk about some boundaries and what our story is before you head back home.”

“Ah,” Zayn nods. “I was actually just thinking the same thing.” They walk up to Liam’s room and lock the door because they’re both too lazy right now to change out of their costumes.

Liam moves random junk off the couch so that Zayn can sit beside him, getting a slight paper cut when he moves one of the papers too quickly.

“Ouch!” he yelps, bringing his finger to his mouth. He absolutely detests paper cuts. Sometimes he thinks they’re worse than the super villains.

“You alright, babe?” Zayn asks, concerned.

Liam nods quickly, even though he feels anything but alright. He just motions for Zayn to sit down on the couch and start talking so he has something else to focus on.

“Umm… alright,” Zayn starts, still worried about Liam’s finger as he sits down. “Well I guess first we should decide how long we’ve been together and how we met.”

Liam nods again and takes his finger out of his mouth so he can speak, even though it still hurts. “Well, for those two things, maybe we should just make it easy and say we were high school sweethearts. That shouldn’t be hard to remember.” He hopes, that is.

“Aww…” Zayn pouts. “But I had this huge Cinderella-type idea in my head where I met you at the ball – or club, exchanged numbers, and we went home to cuddle.”

“Who was the little spoon?” Liam questions, playing along.

“Me, obviously,” Zayn responds, doing a tiny hair flip.

“See, it couldn’t be true then,” Liam tells him, fake-seriously. “I’m always the little spoon.”

“Oh, hush.” Zayn sticks his tongue out. “You’re such a big spoon, don’t lie.”

Liam giggles. Zayn’s absolutely ridiculous sometimes. It’s what he loves the most about him honestly.

“Alright, fine,” Liam puts his hands up in mock-surrender. “I’m the big spoon. But can we still be high school sweethearts?”

“I guess,” Zayn sighs exaggeratedly, winking. Liam shakes his head fondly. He loves having Zayn as a friend.

“So, now that that’s settled,” Liam clears his throat. “Let’s talk boundaries.”

They end up talking for about an hour. They decide that hugging is definitely more than okay, cheek kisses are alright, and that kisses on the lips should only be done occasionally and softly with no tongue.

“Like I don’t think I’d mind kissing,” Liam explains. “But I also like… it would be weird, you know?” He feels like hiding his face out of fear he’s overthinking things and not making any sense, but Zayn puts a soft hand in his.

“It’s totally fine, babe,” Zayn assures. “I understand where you’re coming from. We don’t have to kiss, yeah?” Liam nods, grinning, then is caught off guard when Zayn suddenly removes his hand from his, like he’s worried. “Sorry. I just… is hand holding okay?”

Liam starts snickering loudly. “Zayn, we’re not even on the clock yet.” He lightly pushes Zayn’s arm and shakes his head. “Yes, hand holding is totally okay.”

“Good.” Zayn puts his hand back in Liam’s, but slowly starts creeping his hand up Liam’s arm and freaking him out. “Your muscles are so nice and soft…”

Before Liam can even digest those words and what the heck he’s doing, Zayn brings his hand all the way up to Liam’s shoulder. “Tickle attack!” he declares, and it’s all downhill from there.

Liam can’t really fight back, both because of the fact he can only really use one hand thanks to the paper cut still on his other and because Zayn’s just too powerful when it comes to tickle attacks. He’s always been that way, ever since the two of them were younger.

“Zayn… Get out of my house!” Liam says giggling, the weight of Zayn stopping him from fighting back any further.

Zayn pretends to look at his watch. “Oh wow, you know what, I should. It’s getting pretty late.” He unlocks Liam’s door and makes a show of walking downstairs to change back into his regular clothes still in Liam’s bathroom.

Liam already knows Zayn hasn’t actually gone back home. He already knows what’s about to happen, and, sure enough, several minutes later Zayn is re-appearing above him (he actually did change back into his normal clothes) and tickling him again.

“You always fall for that one,” Zayn says as he goes. “I thought by now you would’ve learned to close the window to your room when I’m over. It’s so easy to get through there silently.”

“How do you know I don’t secretly enjoy it?” Liam attempts to wink but can’t because all the laughter is forcing his eyes completely closed instead. The fun is ruined when his bad finger hits the couch the wrong way and he starts sobbing a tiny bit. “Ow!”

“Oh no.” Zayn is instantly guilty, taking Liam’s finger in his hand softly and looking at it. “I didn’t realize how bad it really was.”

“I’m fine, really-”

Zayn’s not hearing it. “Let’s go downstairs and get you a plaster, love.” Liam nods slowly, letting Zayn guide him there.

Liam nearly slips a few times on the walk down the stairs, but Zayn always manages to help him back on his feet again. When they go into the kitchen, Liam just motions wordlessly to where the plasters are kept, sitting down on a nearby table and waiting.

Liam honestly feels like superheroes should get exempt from silly things like paper cuts and pain in general. He’s heard normal people talk about how they wish they were superheroes so they could heal quickly, or never feel pain, and just had to snicker because it’s so far from the truth.

Zayn walks over to sit next to Liam and puts the plaster on his finger as gently as he can. After that, he stays a little bit longer, helping Liam change out of his costume and into normal clothes (which really isn’t that necessary in Liam’s opinion, but he appreciates it nonetheless).

“See you at the cruise,” Zayn says when Liam’s flatmate, Sophia, gets home and he’s sure Liam’s in good care.

 “See you there!” Liam waves goodbye to him. After that, he goes to explain to Sophia that he’ll be gone on a cruise for a month starting in three days. He expects her to freak out, but instead she just starts smirking.

“I was wondering how long it’d take before you two finally got together,” she tells him.

“What?” Liam questions. It takes a moment to click in his brain that she’s referring to him and Zayn. “Oh no, no, no, no. It’s not like that, it’s-”

“Right, uh huh,” she winks. “What kind of cruise is it then?”

He blushes as he finds himself muttering, “A couples cruise.”

She laughs hard and long. Why did he answer her question honestly? He could’ve made up something, like, a cruise for Batman fanatics or something. He’s never been good at lying though, especially to his flatmate. Kind of ironic considering his job as a superhero and all.

“Yeah, yeah, alright,” Liam tries to change the conversation. “So anyway, do you think you’ll be okay with me being gone that long?”

“Yeah, I’ll be good,” she assures him. “Your job has always been good about paying you well for vacation days.” His job. Oh gosh, he almost forgot he has to call Harry.

“Okay.” He smiles. “I’ll miss you though.”

Sophia giggles. “Don’t get too sappy yet now. You still have three days until you have to leave.”

Liam giggles back. “Okay. So what’s for dinner tonight?”

***

The first day on the cruise ship is pretty weird. It’s hard for Liam to adjust to the fact that they’re constantly moving on the water. Zayn has had about three freak outs over the possibility of drowning since they got on.

“Zayn,” Liam tries the third time, talking to him as the two of them unpack their things in their new cabin. “It’s going to be okay. If we do end up sinking – _which we’re not going to_ – then you can fly people to safety, yeah?”

“Yeah, but what if I’m not fast enough in powering up or whatever?” Zayn frowns. “What if I’m not quick enough and end up leaving everyone, including myself, drowning in the ocean?” He’s hyperventilating now, and Liam’s scared he’s going to have an anxiety attack soon.

Liam walks over to him slowly, carefully, afraid one wrong step could push Zayn over the edge, and puts his arms softly around Zayn’s shoulders. “It’s going to be okay, Zayn. I promise you. We’re going to catch the Winstons and be the perfect fake couple and we’ll get home safely without drowning.”

He gives him a small smile and Zayn sniffles, wiping the tears from his eyes. “Alright. Yeah, alright. I’ll try to relax.”

“That’s the spirit,” Liam perks up, removing his hands from Zayn’s shoulders and patting him on the back. “Now come on, let’s finish getting our stuff unpacked. Lunch starts in just a few minutes.”

Zayn nods, returning to unpacking his impressive book collection.

Liam follows suite. As he continues unpacking, he finds something and starts laughing. He hadn’t realized he had packed the picture of him and Zayn at his thirteenth birthday party, wearing the most ridiculous hats and the fattest sunglasses.

“Oh my gosh,” he says, still trying to catch his breath. “Remember this?” He holds up the picture so Zayn can see it. Zayn starts cracking up too, nearly breaking a mug he brought with him.

“Why the heck did you bring that?” Zayn snorts, carefully setting the mug down on his bedside table.

“I didn’t even realize I had,” Liam defends himself, deciding to put the picture on his bedside table. “Oh man, those were truly the days.”

“Stop sounding so old,” Zayn teases. “We’re only in our 20s.”

“I know, I know,” Liam says. “Still though. That was one sick birthday party.”

“Only because I was there,” Zayn winks. “It would’ve been boring without me.”

Liam giggles. “But of course.” He silently thinks to himself that it _would_ have been boring without Zayn to be honest. He doesn’t know how he would have survived without Zayn’s beautiful voice singing in the Happy Birthday song.

The two of them spend a little bit longer unpacking things, then head to lunch.

***

That night, before dinner, the movie _Love Actually_ is playing in one of the cabins. Liam silently snickers to himself as he imagines how Harry would react if he saw they were playing his favorite movie right now.

The first time they meet the villains Liam isn't even paying attention, he nearly trips as Zayn presses a hand into his and leads them over to the couple that Liam recognizes instantly.

“Hey,” one of the Winstons says to them when they get all the way over. “I’m Ben, this is my wife Meredith.” The other Winston – Meredith – waves to them. Liam waves back half-heartedly.

“Hi,” Zayn responds awkwardly. “I’m Zayn and this is my fr- boyfriend, Liam.”

“Nice to meet you.” Ben smiles at them, shaking their hands, and Liam’s once again reminded why he prefers the villains that are just outright evil and don’t try to hide it like these two. Being nice to villains and pretending he doesn’t know the crimes they’ve done is the worst.

Luckily, by now he and Zayn have both mastered the art of the fake smile, and Ben and Meredith don’t suspect a thing. The two boys sit down next to them. Liam’s planning to just focus on the sappy movie and hope that the villains don’t notice him constantly watching them out of his peripherals, but of course, Ben wants to continue to talk to them.

“So what brought the two of you to this ship?”

Liam nearly snorts; the wording of the question is so funny to him. _Must act professional_ , he repeats to himself.

Before he can speak though, Zayn starts answering for him. “Well, Liam and I decided we wanted this summer to be-”

Liam finds himself spiraling into a wave of nostalgia over the word ‘summer’. Suddenly he's fourteen again, buying a water gun and pistoling it to hit Zayn right in the back in the middle of the beach house, as well as pie-ing each other in the face when their moms were down at the beach.

Safe to say their moms weren’t very happy to find out the pies they’d made to eat that night had been ruined by Zayn and Liam, but they got over it. Liam thinks their moms were secretly just glad they were having fun, even if it was at the expense of their beautiful cooking. Besides, when you take two fourteen year old boys to the beach over the summer, you have to kind of expect things like this to happen, right?

“Right? Liam?” Oh, Zayn’s talking to him again.

Liam snaps out of his trance. What did Zayn say just now? “Hmm… I’m sorry, what did you say?” Ben and Meredith snicker and Liam blushes even harder. He tries to think of a lie to play up the romance or whatever. “Sorry, just get lost in this one’s eyes sometimes you know? Makes me forget my existence and all.”

“Oh, don’t I know it,” Meredith agrees, now putting her head on Ben’s shoulder.

Zayn just has a ridiculous look on his face. Liam thinks it’s happy but isn’t sure. “Umm… Right. So what I was saying, Liam, was that you’re going to protect me if the ship goes under, yeah?”

“Of course,” Liam replies instantly. “I’d always save you.”

The two boys share a hug and they can hear a lot of “aww”s throughout the crowd. They silently giggle to each other and Zayn whispers “you’re really good at this” in Liam’s ear.

“You too,” Liam whispers back, winking. “But your eyes really are amazing to be honest.”

“Oh stop it,” Zayn tells him, although he can see a tiny hint of blush coming onto Zayn’s cheeks.

When the two of them break out of the hug and turn back to the movie, it’s a kissing scene. Pretty much everyone in the crowd is kissing right now, and those who just did quick kisses are raising their eyebrows at Liam and Zayn.

Liam turns back to Zayn with a ‘should we?’ face, to which Zayn shrugs like ‘why not?’ Liam puts his lips on Zayn’s and they share a small kiss, nothing too big, and it’s probably one of the most awkward things Liam’s ever experienced.

It’s so weird to be kissing someone you think of as basically a sibling to you. However, Zayn’s just smiling at him, so Liam smiles too. Since the Winstons apparently lost their voices after that kiss scene, they watch the rest of the movie in peace. Liam texts Harry about it here and there and silently thinks to himself that he’s glad he and Zayn got assigned this mission.


	2. Chapter 2

“Zayn! Liam!” Meredith calls. “So glad to see you two again tonight.”

“Well,” Liam shrugs, sitting down next to them. “This cruise ship has some great movies, what can we say?” He chuckles slightly.

“True that,” Ben agrees.

Movie nights with the Winstons start to become a thing. Liam doesn’t understand why personally, because they didn’t really reveal any clues at all during the first day. Or the second day. Or the fifth day.

However, when he brought this up, Zayn said to him, “Liam, we need to keep an eye on them at all times. What’s that you used to say when you were younger? ‘If I don’t go to the store, the one day I don’t go is the day they’ll bring back my favorite candy.’ Or something like that. If we don’t go to the movie night, the one time we don’t go they’ll reveal something. Besides, movies are cool.”

Well, how could Liam argue with that? So here the four of them are, sitting with each other and watching _The Notebook_.

It gets to about the halfway point in the movie when the Winstons start talking again (which Liam thinks must be a new record). This time though, they don’t talk to Liam and Zayn. Instead they start whispering to each other.

Now, Liam’s always had amazing senses, even long before he got his actual powers. So while Zayn is just paying attention to the movie, probably not even noticing the duo started talking, Liam listens in closely, not making eye contact.

“Ben,” Meredith says. “Not that watching sappy movies with you isn’t the highlight of my life but when are we actually gonna start trying to find what we came here for?”

“We will, sweetie,” Ben replies. “Sebastian Cohen will regret the day he fired us, I promise.”

Sebastian Cohen… Liam repeats the name over and over again in his head, not wanting to forget it.

***

“Liam why don’t we eat out there with the rest of the passengers tonight?” Zayn asks when the two of them go back to their room to get ready for dinner. “I’m tired of just getting our food and then eating in here like losers.”

Liam ignores his question though, currently too focused on looking through Google results for ‘Sebastian Cohen’. So far all he can find though is random Facebook profiles that don’t look very promising.

“Do you know anything about a ‘Sebastian Cohen’?” Liam asks, still scrolling aimlessly through Google and feeling ridiculous when he clicks to page four. Everyone knows if you can’t find it in the first three pages, you’re probably out of luck.

“Why?” Zayn questions. Liam turns around to look at him, and feels his heart beat quicker when he does, but thinks it’s probably because he’s nervous about finding out the villains’ plans.

“Umm…” Liam starts, his eyes now diverging to looking around the room and finally landing on his hands. He’s always had a bit of a hard time making eye contact during serious discussions.

“Well, earlier during the movie, Ben said ‘Sebastian Cohen will regret the day he fired us’. And Meredith asked when they were gonna start looking for what they came here for. Is he like the captain of this ship or something?”

“Hmm…” Zayn thinks. “Well, I do know that the captain of the cruise ship is actually Monty Cooper.” Right, it must’ve been mentioned in that brochure Liam had only skimmed through. “As for a Sebastian Cohen… I’m not sure. The only one I can think of is one who runs a club back home called ‘Club Feet’. Ridiculous name, I know. Not sure why the Winstons would be after him though.”

Liam snorts at the name ‘Club Feet’. Maybe the Winstons run a competing club called ‘Club Arm’ or something. “Zayn, you should know by now that villains rarely target anyone who makes sense.”

“I guess,” Zayn agrees. “You said Ben mentioned Sebastian had fired them yeah?” Liam nods. “Hmm… Maybe he found out they had powers and were changing all their alcohol into fruit punch or something.” Liam snickers at the mental image. Imagine trying to get your tequila on on a Friday night or something and you come to find you’re drinking PowerAde. That definitely can’t be good for business.

“Yeah, maybe so.” Liam shrugs. You never really know with villains. He returns his gaze to Zayn’s eyes and thinks his heart is going to burst. It’s probably because they’re getting closer and closer to an answer. Liam usually gets nervous the closer they get to figuring out the villain’s plot. “Anyway, I’m hungry. Can we go get our dinner now?”

“Of course,” Zayn replies, starting to get up from his bed. “But like, _can_ we sit outside with the rest of the passengers this time instead of getting our food and going back in here?”

Liam bites his lip. Since when does Zayn want to be social? “ _You’re_ more than welcome to. I can’t handle that many different smells at once. It messes with my senses.”

“How?” Zayn raises an eyebrow. “It doesn’t bother me that much.”

“That’s because you’re not autistic,” Liam points out, eyes going to his hands again. Why is Zayn so confused? He thought this was pretty obvious.

“You’re autistic?” Zayn asks. There’s no judgement in his voice, just surprise and curiosity.

Now it’s Liam’s turn to raise an eyebrow. “I told you that when I first got diagnosed, babe. When we were like eight, yeah?”

He looks up and Zayn looks like he’s questioning his existence. It’s kind of funny looking to be quite honest. “How… how did I forget that?”

Liam shrugs again, giggling slightly. “I don’t know. But anyway, let’s go get our food now yeah? You don’t have to go back to the room with me if you don’t want to. I’ll be fine.”

They smile at each other and head to go get their food. Zayn goes back to the room with Liam like always and Liam would be lying if he said he wasn’t relieved.

***

“Liam! Wake up!” Zayn lightly taps Liam’s shoulder, startling him awake. What time is it right now? His eyes blur for a bit until finally he can make out Zayn in front of him, sitting on a chair by Liam’s bed and holding a laptop, staring eagerly at him.

Liam blinks a few times, yawning and stretching. He squints at his watch and, thanks to the light from Zayn’s laptop, can just make out the fact that it’s 6 freakin’ 30 in the morning. “Zayn, this better be important or I’m gonna kill you.” They’re not supposed to be waking up this early when they don’t have their normal jobs to go to.

“It is,” Zayn promises, pouting slightly at Liam’s words. And darn it if that pout doesn’t just about wipe away any anger Liam had two seconds ago. “So, remember how we were talking about Sebastian Cohen? And how I told you the person running this ship is Monty Cooper?”

Liam nods, though he’s not completely sure yet how one has to do with the other. “Well, get this,” Zayn continues. “I was just emailing one of my mates back home-” Liam bites his lip to stop himself from giggling at the fact that Zayn still emails his friends on a regular basis instead of texting them “-and he used to work for that club ‘Club Feet’ too. He says Monty Cooper was one of the managers there too.”

Liam suddenly jolts up. Okay, so the captain of the cruise ship was a manager of the same club Sebastian Cohen owns. “It gets weirder,” Zayn says now. _Oh goody_ , Liam thinks to himself. He just ‘loves’ when things get weirder. “Apparently the Winstons worked there too.” Liam stares at Zayn for a minute. How would Zayn’s friend know if the Winstons worked there? How much is Zayn revealing to him?

“Oh no,” Zayn shakes his head, apparently seeing where Liam’s train of thought is going. “I didn’t tell him their names or file or anything, but I asked if he’d seen any suspicious activity in his time there.” Liam scoffs. ‘Suspicious activity’. That literally sounds like something straight out of a spy movie.

“I know, I know. Probably wasn’t the best wording,” Zayn sighs. “But read this. And look at the image attached.” He passes the laptop to Liam, who reads the email, slowly digesting all of the words.

_Lol ‘suspicious activity’. Bro how old are you? :P_

_But now that you mention it, there was this one time where this guy – Benjamin or something, I don’t know, we rarely worked the same shift – was sneaking his wife or whatever inside. And I was so confused because why would he need to sneak her in? Like, we didn’t have any hard rules about bringing in significant others or anything._

_But I just shrugged it off because it wasn’t any of my business. So then the next day we come to find out he was fired for stealing something, but Sebastian wouldn’t tell us what it was. And mind you, he told us pretty much everything (even things he shouldn’t have *cringes at the chicken story*). But again, I’m just like ‘whatever, none of my business’._

_So then a newspaper article comes out a little bit later about those two’s house being searched for stolen money and more stuff from the bar, but when they looked in their house, all they could find was iron pyrite and towels with the Club Feet logo on it._

Liam looks at the image attached (a picture of the newspaper article) and is kind of weirded out. Towels? He’s not sure what he thought the opposite of money would be but he never thought _towels_.

He hands Zayn back the computer and their fingers touch for a brief moment, and Liam exhales. Over the email, obviously. Because things did, in fact, just get weirder.

“Weird for sure.” He thinks for a moment… So Ben was fired from a job because both he and Meredith stole something, but when their house was investigated, nothing could be found. So how did Sebastian know they stole it?

“So obviously,” Zayn starts, interrupting Liam’s train of thought. “They’re on this cruise ship to get back at Sebastian for firing Ben. But how?”

“Well, since he and the captain were both managers there,” Liam snaps his fingers a tiny bit as he talks. It helps him concentrate. “Maybe they’re planning to like, take Monty and hold him hostage until Sebastian gives Ben his job back?”

“I kind of doubt they care that much about the actual job at this point, babe,” Zayn offers. “I think they just want revenge.”

Liam can’t help but notice how beautifully Zayn’s face shines because of the laptop light. Objectively, of course. Like, really objectively. Zayn’s beautiful. It’s just a fact. Like that humans need air to breathe. Nothing new.

“Well, what do you think they’re up to then?” Liam asks honestly, turning his gaze to his hands so he doesn’t think about Zayn’s beautiful face anymore.

“Well, I mean, I personally think it’s pretty obvious,” Zayn says. “Like, Ben was fired for stealing something, and you said Meredith asked when they were gonna get what they came here for. So I think they’re gonna steal something else from the ship.”

Liam grumbles at himself, feeling dumb for not putting two and two together sooner. “Of course.” However, one question still remains. “What would they be stealing though?”

“I don’t know,” Zayn replies. “You should know by now we rarely figure these things in just one go, babe.” He laughs.

“Yeah,” Liam agrees distantly. “Well can we figure it out when it’s like, not 7:00 in the morning?”

Zayn giggles. “Of course. Goodnight again, Liam.”

“Goodnight again, Zayn,” Liam responds, distorted because he’s already putting his face in the pillow and closing his eyes again.

***

Liam wakes up again at 1 PM. He yawns and stretches until he realizes what time it is. “Oh my gosh, did we miss lunch?”

“You did,” Zayn confirms, smirking. “I saved you a bowl of mac and cheese and some hot chocolate.” He walks over to Liam’s bed and hands him the bowl and cup, as well as a fork. Liam gladly accepts them, giggling slightly.

“Well, guess chivalry isn’t dead,” Liam winks, starting by licking the whipped cream from the top of the hot chocolate. He knows he could just use the fork to scoop up the whipped cream into his mouth, but where’s the fun in that?

He’s licking the last of the whipped cream from the cup when he looks up and sees Zayn grinning widely at him. It’s making his heart flutter quite a bit for reasons he won’t acknowledge. “What?” he asks, feeling self-conscious suddenly.

“Well, first off you’ve got a whipped cream mustache going there.” Zayn giggles at Liam as he licks his lips, blushing. “But like, Liam, I’ve been thinking and there’s one thing we haven’t really done while we’ve been here yet.”

“Figured out what the villains are up to and arrested them?” Liam offers, stabbing his fork into the mac and cheese.

“Okay, two things,” Zayn agrees with a chuckle, feeling his stubble so softly that it starts making Liam’s pants tighter and he’s not sure why. “But like, we also haven’t actually _relaxed_.”

Liam raises an eyebrow. “That’s because we’re here for a job, not to relax.”

“Yeah I know,” Zayn replies. “But like, just for a day, don’t you just want to take a moment and see what all this ship really has to offer? Don’t you wanna, like, try out the massages and the pool and dance hall and stuff? Don’t you just wanna take a break from it all?”

Liam grins widely. He knows it’s probably a terrible idea because, what is that the two of them said before? Oh yeah, the one day they don’t pay attention to the Winstons will be the day they talk about something important.

However, Zayn’s giving him that pout again and honestly how can Liam say no to that? He snickers. “Of course I do.”

“Yay!” Zayn cheers, looking like a child who just got what they wanted for Christmas.

“But I’m finishing this mac and cheese first,” Liam insists.

Zayn snorts, shaking his head fondly. “Of course. I didn’t buy it for nothing.”

That afternoon, Liam and Zayn do a few things. First, they head to the pool. Zayn hangs out on the sidelines, much to Liam’s complaints.

“Come _on_ ,” Liam pleads, pouting as Zayn continues staring at the magazine in his hands.

“Your pouts don’t work on me, Liam,” Zayn tells him, licking his finger and turning the page. “’Sides, you know I can’t swim.”

Liam huffs. “Oh come on, that’s a load of rubbish.” He drops his voice so only Zayn can hear him. “If you can _fly_ , you can sure as heck float back to the top of the surface of a shallow pool after jumping in.”

He knows he’s not being completely fair, but he’s tired and anxious to get in the water. “Listen, if you’re scared that you’re going to drown, I promise you won’t. It’s not nearly as deep as the actual ocean, and I’ll save you.” He gives him an encouraging smile.

“Thank you, Liam,” Zayn replies, returning his smile. “But it’s really not that. I’m just not in the mood for swimming right now okay?”

Liam sighs dramatically, but knows there’s no changing his mind. “Fine. It won’t be as fun without you though.”

Zayn laughs a bit, turning another page. “I’ll think about it.”

As Liam’s about to jump in, he turns and sees Zayn winking at him, and if Liam makes an inhuman noise after that, Zayn doesn’t acknowledge it, and Liam jumps in head first before he can.

As soon as Liam peaks his head out of the water, he sees someone just a few feet in front of him. Actually two someones. “Niall? Louis?”

Niall and Louis turn around and immediately swim over to him, smiles on their faces. “Liam!”

“What are you two doing here?” Liam questions as soon as they get over to him, raising an eyebrow.

The two of them immediately get super blush-y, wiping at the back of their necks.

“Well…” Louis starts. “When Harry said you weren’t able to hang out because you were going on a cruise, we kind of looked it up and… decided we wanted to go too.”

“Have you been here the whole time then?” Liam raises an eyebrow again. He’s not sure how he wouldn’t have seen them before now if they had been.

“No,” Niall denies immediately. “We just got on at the last stop.”

“Oh.” Liam remembers them stopping for a moment while he was still asleep, although he’s not sure where. Niall and Louis are still blushing quite a bit, which is confusing Liam. Do they think he’s angry at them or something?

But then he looks down to see their hands interlocked and… “Oh. How long has this been a thing?”

“Uh… About three months I think,” Louis replies, asking Niall with his eyes if that’s right.

“Actually, three months and eighteen days,” Niall tells him.

“That’s so cute how you remember all the important dates,” Louis says, pressing their noses together and then their lips.

It’s such an adorable kiss, the picture of Fluff and all things happiness, and Liam… Liam just starts laughing, long and hard.

“‘Oh Niall, the way you remember all the important dates is _so_ romantic, I can’t go on.’” He mimes swooning, and laughs when Louis splashes him in the face.

“But seriously,” he continues after several moments of splashes and giggles. “Why didn’t you guys tell me sooner that you were dating?”

Niall shrugs. “I guess we were just kind of afraid our, like, friendship with you and Harry would be soiled if the two of us were lovey-dovey all the time.”

Liam sputters. He can’t believe they would ever think that. “No way. Nothing could ever soil the four of us’ friendship. Bros for life, yeah?” He holds out a fist in the water, which Niall snickers at but then fist bumps him.

“Yeah, bros for life,” he smiles.

“For life,” Louis murmurs, fist bumping Liam as well.

“So,” Niall draws out. “What about you and yours?” He wiggles his eyebrows, and Liam had to know this was coming. “I mean this _is_ a couple’s cruise after all.”

“Oh yeah,” Louis agrees, joining in the teasing. “Liam, who is your boy-f? Or girl-f? Or other f?”

“Uh…” Liam stutters, trying to think of a good answer.

Before he can though, he gets splashed. Not by someone’s hands, but because someone’s jumping in the pool behind him. He almost falls over from it.

“Hi babes,” Zayn says, grinning at Liam as he realizes his surprise jump worked. What he doesn’t realize is that the slightly freaked out expression Liam’s making isn’t only because of Zayn’s surprise, but also because he knows what’s coming next.

Sure enough, as he turns around he sees Niall and Louis sharing smirks with each other, wiggling their eyebrows, and Liam knows it’s all downhill from here.

The four boys mess around with each other in the pool, playing old games like Marco Polo, as well as heading to the sports section of the pool where Louis ‘owns’ everybody in volleyball (really the other three just mentally agree to let him win, but he doesn’t have to know that).

After about an hour and a half of goofing off and teasing each other, Zayn swims over to Liam and tells him seductively, “How about we get out of here and do something more… relaxing?”

He’s winking at him, and Liam thinks he’s wet for reasons other than the fact he’s in the pool.

“Uh… Sure, yeah, I can definitely do that,” Liam nods weakly.

Niall and Louis snicker behind them and as Zayn and Liam head to get out of the water, Louis calls, “Have fun you two!”

“Remember to use protection!” Niall yells for pretty much the whole pool to hear. He high-fives Louis and the two of them crack up.

Liam’s blushing up a storm. He can’t believe his friends. He flashes Zayn an apologetic face, but Zayn’s just smiling and giggling softly.

***

“Oh my goodness,” Liam moans, Zayn grunting next to him. “That’s the spot. I’m so glad we decided to do this.” Hands feel up and down his back and he feels like he’s in Heaven.

“Me too,” Zayn agrees, sighing lovingly, and Liam thinks he hears him move over a little. “These massage tables are the things of dreams.”

Liam nods, not able to really speak as he loses himself in the soft touch of the massage therapist’s hands against his skin.

He finds himself slowly but surely falling asleep because of how comforting the massage is. He has what’s probably the most eye opening dream ever.

_Him and Zayn. Except instead of superheroes, they’re members of a boyband. Have been for a few years, actually. And Zayn has just announced to him, Niall, Louis, and Harry that he’s leaving for good._

_Not in the flesh either. Over text. Liam’s crying, and typing in Zayn’s number._

_“Zayn, why are you leaving me? I can’t live without you.” No answer. Liam checks to make sure Zayn hasn’t hung up. He hasn’t. “Zayn? ZAYN. Please answer. I’m in love with you.” His tears are turning into a literal lake, which is slowly building up to reach his neck. “Zayn. Please. I love you.”_

_“Liam?” Zayn asks. “Sorry, my phone was muted. Liam?” It’s too late though. Liam’s face is under water and he’s drowning in his tears. Down, down, down until…_

He’s being shaken awake. By Zayn, who looks absolutely frightened. “Liam? You alright babe?”

“Zayn!” Liam throws himself into Zayn’s arms, not even caring about anything else other than the fact that Zayn _isn’t_ leaving him via text. Or at all. “You’re here.”

“Yeah…” Zayn hugs him back tightly, frowning. “You were screaming ‘Zayn, Zayn’, which would’ve been flattering, but you sounded like scared to death.”

Liam pulls away from Zayn’s arms and his face falls to the floor. He thinks for a moment about just telling Zayn about the dream and leaving out the part where he says he’s in love with Zayn. They’ve always been good about sharing everything that’s bothering them with each other.

However, he doesn’t really want to admit out loud that he had a dream where he drowned in his tears over Zayn. Especially because he realizes it’s not completely untrue for how he’d react in that situation.

“Yeah…” Liam finally replies, distant. “Just had a really bad dream is all. Uh… Can we go to the dance hall? I need a drink. Or several.”

He returns his gaze to Zayn’s, who’s giving him a concerned smile. “Of course, babe. I could use some unwinding myself.”

Liam smiles gratefully, and as he follows behind Zayn and has trouble breathing over how much he wants to hold Zayn’s hand, he realizes how in over his head he is.

***

Liam’s three drinks in and he still can’t shake off that dream he had in the massage room. It’s really opened up his mind to the one thing he wants to accept the least: he likes Zayn.

He doesn’t think he’s in love with him like in the dream, at least not yet, but he can’t deny any longer that he definitely has a crush.

All those times he told himself he didn’t know why his heart was beating quicker when looking at Zayn, all those times he told himself he didn’t know why his pants got wet around Zayn... They were all lies. He has a crush on Zayn, and this dream has made him finally accept it.

Even though Liam accepts he has a crush though, he also accepts that Zayn’s never going to feel the same. This is a fake relationship. They’re just pretending to be dating for a job, nothing more.

Right?

Liam takes a fourth drink and decides he’s so far gone now and heads to the dance floor, wobbling as he goes. He finds Zayn a bit before he gets there.

“’Sup?” he slurs, trying to high five Zayn and slapping him in the face.

Zayn just laughs, putting his arms around Liam to keep him upright. “Babe, how many drinks have you had?”

“Your hands are so soft,” Liam replies, touching Zayn’s hands like they’re the most beautiful things in the world, and in that moment they kind of are to him.

“Oh my gosh,” Zayn shakes his head. “Babe, it’s only 4:30. It isn’t even dinner time and you’re already smashed.”

Smashed… What does that word mean again? To destroy something, he thinks. He also thinks he wants Zayn to destroy his face.

“Smash it in my faace!” Liam calls, pressing his head against Zayn’s shoulder.

Just then, the Winstons come over to them, laughing.

“So your boy is a needy drunk huh?” Ben chuckles. “Mere-maid here is too.”

“Mere-maid,” Liam giggles. “That’s funny, because her name is Meredith, and it sounds like mermaid.” Liam keeps cracking up, feeling like it’s the funniest thing he’s ever heard. He grabs Zayn’s cheeks in his hands. “Maybe I should start calling you _Zayn_ -deer.”

Zayn rolls his eyes, but gives a fond smile right afterwards. “So romantic.”

Liam cracks up again, Meredith joining in. “Hey Ben bear,” she says, draping over Ben. “When… When are we gonna go to the vault next to the game room and steal-”

“Steel?” Liam questions. “Why are you all talking about the metal in the game room?”

Ben looks super embarrassed, but like he’s also relieved Liam said that. “Yes, Meredith, why _are_ you talking about the steel in the game room?”

Meredith opens her mouth to answer, but Ben cuts her off. “You know what? Don’t answer that. Let’s get you some water and into bed.”

“But it’s only 5 PM,” Meredith complains as he starts dragging her away.

“No time like the present,” he chuckles awkwardly, turning to Zayn and Liam one last time. “Good seeing you boys, see you around.”

He waves with one hand, dragging Meredith away with the other. Liam waves back. “Yeah, see you in the movies!” He turns to Zayn. “That was weird.”

“Yeah…” Zayn agrees, suspicion strong in his voice and eyes. Liam’s about to ask what’s up, but before he can, Zayn turns to him. “Uh… What do you say we go back to our cabin and wait for dinner?”

“That’s so _boring_ though,” Liam whines dramatically. “Come on, Zayn, let’s go dance.”

“You know I can’t dance,” Zayn starts, and Liam snorts.

“That’s what you said about swimming too,” he points out, impatient and cranky.

“Yeah” comes a voice behind them. He turns around, nearly falling over with the movement. It’s Niall, looking sober as ever even though Liam knows he’s probably on like his fifth drink or something.

One of Louis’ hands is draped around Niall’s shoulders, his other one holding a drink. Now _he_ looks as gone as Liam still feels.

“Besides,” Niall continues. “Anyone can dance if you’ve got enough alcohol in ya.”

“Yeah!” Louis calls, nearly falling over and spilling his alcohol, but Niall catches him and pulls him up just in time.

“Woah, okay buddy,” Niall giggles, taking the drink out of his hand. “Think you’ve had enough for the night. Let’s get rid of that one and head to the dance floor, yeah?”

“Yeah…” Louis agrees reluctantly.

“See Zayn?” Liam pushes. “ _They’re_ heading to the dance floor. Come _on_. Let’s have some fun.”

Zayn looks like he’s ready to protest again, but Liam, Niall, and Louis are all staring at him expectantly and he reluctantly sighs.

“Fine,” he replies, obviously annoyed. The other boys cheer and Zayn kind-of smiles. “Alright… Niall? Is that your name?” Niall nods. “Okay, give me that drink Louis had. Don’t want it to like go to waste or anything.”

Niall obliges, and the night goes from there. Liam keeps getting more alcohol every time he thinks enough time has passed, and knows he’ll regret it in the morning, but doesn’t care at the time.

By the time Niall and Louis are finally ready to let Zayn and Liam go, it’s past 8. They missed dinner, but Liam ate enough cookies from the snack area that it might as well have been a meal.

Liam’s sobered up enough by that point as well, but still grabs some water to drink before going to bed to be safe.

“Well,” he says as he takes a sip. “Guess you finally got that relaxing day you wanted huh?” He winks at Zayn, giggling.

“Yeah,” Zayn agrees, taking his shoes off and laying down in his bed. “Although I mostly just drank some of that alcohol for show. I spent most of the time watching the three of you make a fool of yourselves.”

Liam giggles some more. That’s exactly what he’d expected Zayn to do to be honest. “Ah, come on. I wasn’t that bad…” Zayn raises his eyebrows at Liam and Liam recoils a tiny bit. “…Was I?”

“Well, for one thing,” Zayn starts, and Liam’s already blushing from the way Zayn’s staring at him. “The Winstons came over to us at the beginning and Meredith mentioned something about wanting to steal things from the vault by the game room, and you thought she meant s-t-e-e-l.”

“…Oh gosh,” Liam reacts, embarrassed, as he starts to slowly remember.

“Yeah…” Zayn says, but he’s laughing instead of cringing. “But hey, at least now we know where whatever it is they’re planning to steal is.”

“True.” Liam swallows the last of the water and yawns, falling back onto his bed. “So what should we do about it then?”

“Well, tonight I think we should get some sleep. But tomorrow we should start doing around the clock stakeouts to make sure we don’t miss them breaking into it, yeah?”

“Yeah,” Liam responds distantly, not completely processing all the words at the moment. Zayn said something about sleep right now though, and he’s all for that. “Goodnight Zayn.”

“Goodnight Liam.”

With that, they fall asleep for the night, and Liam definitely doesn’t have another dream where he cries over Zayn leaving him, thank you very much.


	3. Chapter 3

The next day the stakeouts begin. Clearly Liam didn’t understand what “around the clock” really meant when he was already half asleep and lost in Zayn’s eyes last night. It means this: every day after breakfast, the two boys immediately head to the area of the vault next to the game room.

Zayn turns them invisible, and they stay sitting there the whole day (minus meal times). It didn’t really annoy Liam the first few hours, but after a while he got tired of sitting in the same place for so long and not being able to bring a book or anything to keep himself occupied because he can’t see his own hands.

“You know what Zayn?” He says angrily, even though he knows he shouldn’t be talking because it could very easily reveal their identities should the Winstons come through right now. “I’m so sick and tired of this. I know it’s our job, but it’s so _boring_. I just want to go back to our room with my laptop and books and such.”

“Liam,” Zayn replies quieter. “I promise we will. As soon as we catch them we’ll immediately go back to our room, yeah?”

Liam huffs and mutters “we better”, but drops the subject for the night and goes back to watching for the villains with Zayn.

The boys continue pulling all-nighters in that same location every single night, still only leaving when they have to get their meals.

Liam’s so tired that one night he says “you know who’s beautiful? You” to Zayn without thinking anything of it. And he’s also so tired that he thinks nothing of it when Zayn replies back with “you know who else is beautiful? You.”

Niall and Louis catch them one day during lunch while they’re getting their food and spend a moment just staring.

“You two look like death,” Niall tells them honestly, reaching for the fruit.

“Thanks,” Liam responds, leaving out the ‘I feel like death’ he wants to say.

“Have you not been sleeping at all recently or something?” Louis questions, concern all over his face.

Liam chuckles tiredly and says some gibberish response that sounds slightly like “ _you’ve_ not been sleeping at all recently”. Niall and Louis just turn to each other with faces full of confusion and decide not to say anything else as they get the last of their food.

Liam’s running on empty so much he almost uses his super speed to run back to his room with the food and leave Zayn in the dust, but he’s also running on empty so much that he can’t summon up any super speed, even normal-person speed at that moment.

Finally, that night - the fourth night of going through this – he turns to Zayn (or at least he thinks he does since he can’t see him) and says softly, “You know what Zayn? I know we’ve gotta catch them okay? But _I_ need to catch some _sleep_. It’s impossible to summon up the energy for super speed and strength when your eyes are so close to falling off.”

He feels Zayn’s arm feeling around for his shoulder, and he rests it there once he finds it. “Yeah, you know what Liam?” He pauses for a moment, arm still around Liam’s shoulder. “I don’t know why I thought this was a good idea. I know it’s important we catch the villains and all, but like… We need to get some sleep because I’m about to start passing out…”

All his words are slurred due to the lack of sleep, but somehow Liam can understand it perfectly. He nods, even though he knows Zayn can’t see it, and the two of them stumble around a bit, making gibberish comments here and there.

They barely make it back to their room, and Zayn turns them visible again, neither of them even having the energy to change out of their costumes at this point… or the energy to find their way to separate beds.

They both fall onto Liam’s bed and Zayn wraps Liam’s arms around him. Zayn murmurs “told you you were a big spoon” and Liam closes his eyes and falls straight asleep to the sound of Zayn’s heartbeat before he can digest what that means.

***

Liam wakes up to sounds of screams and chaos from outside their room. He gets up, noticing he’s still in his superhero clothes and that he doesn’t see Zayn anywhere and starts freaking out. Did they get found out?

“Zayn?!” Liam calls, looking every which way around the room. “Zayn where are you? What’s going on?”

As he gets up and keeps looking around the room, blood rushing to his ears, he starts freaking out more and more by the second. “Zayn?!” He really feels like that dream is going to come true and he’s going to drown in a lake of his own tears because Zayn left him and he has no clue what’s going on right now.

Just then he feels arms behind him and hears Zayn’s voice say “boo!” He turns around, screams at Zayn’s figure, and quite frankly gets pretty angry when Zayn starts laughing. “Works on you every time.”

“This isn’t funny,” Liam demands. Any other time he probably would find it funny, but Zayn shouldn’t be goofing around when there’s so much chaos going on outside. “What the heck is going on right now?”

Zayn immediately seems to digest what Liam is saying and calms himself down. “You’re right, it’s not the time for joking. The Winstons stole the thing they were looking for while we were asleep and from what I can tell they’re torturing the people on this ship.”

Liam’s heart drops. “What the heck Zayn?! What the heck are we still doing in here then? We gotta go save the people on this ship.” He doesn’t even wait for Zayn’s response either. He rushes out of the room, not looking back. He needs to save the passengers, especially Niall and Louis. He’s not letting two of his best friends die on this ship.

Liam’s running, running, not sure where he’s even going, until he opens the door to one room and can’t breathe. There’s Niall and Louis, sitting on one of their beds, only Louis’ got blood dripping out of him.

“No!” Liam screams without thinking, suddenly not caring about anything else. He rushes over to Louis. “What happened?”

Niall, for his part, doesn’t seem to recognize Liam’s voice. Either that or he just doesn’t care about anything other than Louis right now either. Probably the latter.

“These two people,” Niall sniffles. “They’re like coming into people’s cabins and trying to kill them. They almost killed me, but Louis stepped in front of me and kicked one of them down, but not before they could… aim a gun at him.”

Liam steps back a little bit, feeling like he’s deflating faster than an old balloon. Guns. They have _guns_ too? No, they were supposed to just have super powers, not actual physical weapons.

“He used the last of his strength to kick them down,” Niall continues, shaking his head. “To save me. I…” he can’t finish his sentence, taking a moment to sob some more. “Is there anything you can do?”

Liam takes a closer look at where the blood is coming from and breathes a sigh of relief. “Look, the blood is coming out from the side of his body, so that’s good. It means it didn’t hit any important arteries and he can still be saved.”

Niall seems to perk up slightly at that, but still looks unsure. “How do we do that?”

Liam really wants to do more, but if the Winstons have guns in addition to possibly super powers, he unfortunately can’t spend much longer here. So he just grabs a cloth and wets it quickly, then instructs Niall to put it on Louis’ side.

“We can do more when we’re sure the ship doctor is safe, but right now I need to get you and everyone else to safety,” Liam rushes, grabbing Niall and Louis and holding them both with one hand, while Niall keeps his hand on the cloth and Louis’ side.

“There you are!” It’s Zayn. “Come on, you know I can’t keep up with your speed.”

“Well sorry, I was a little too focused on trying to save people,” Liam rolls his eyes, still annoyed with Zayn for that prank he pulled while he knew the ship was in danger.

“Listen, I’m sorry,” Zayn pleads, guiltiness all over his face. “I know it was immature of me to be messing around when we had a ship to save.”

“You know what, Zap?” Liam responds angrily, using Zayn’s superhero name. “We can talk about it later. Right now we need to work together to save these people, because the Winstons don’t just have super powers. They have guns. So are you ready or not?”

Zayn blinks back his shock at Liam’s words, quickly preparing himself. “Yes, let’s go.”

He walks over and grabs onto Liam’s chest so that Liam can continue holding Niall and Louis.

“What are you doing?” Niall questions, freaking out.

“It’s gonna be okay,” Liam assures him. “We’re gonna get you to safety.”

Liam and Zayn have only ever done this a few times, and it sometimes ends in disaster, but it’s their only option right now from what Liam can see, so he nods down to Zayn and Zayn starts making them fly, Liam making them go at super speed.

Niall’s screaming, still holding onto the cloth on Louis’ side for dear life. However, Liam hopes his screams are drowned out by the screams of the other passengers as he and Zayn go from room to room, Liam carrying more and more people.

Some of the people end up sitting on his head or sitting on each other, but they’re safe with Liam and Zayn. Nobody falls.

Finally, once Liam’s triple checked he’s gotten everyone, he and Zayn take them to the last room once they’re sure no one else is in it. They slowly reach the floor and Liam carefully sets down all the passengers, looking around.

“Okay,” he breathes. “I think you all are safe he-”

He can’t finish the sentence though, because he gets cut off by a bullet on his back and laughter that is very clearly the Winstons’. Liam tries, with very much difficulty, to turn around. He only makes it about halfway before he has to stop, but can still see them out of his peripherals.

“You really thought you could stop us?” Meredith asks, snickering some more. “You really thought you could save all these passengers and get everyone out alive? Oh no. When the Winstons want revenge, they’re going to get it. Whatever the cost is.”

Liam gulps, looking straight ahead and not being able to find Zayn where he was before. His mind goes to the worst place, worried Zayn has left him and all these innocent people here.

“I’m sorry, Winstons,” Liam starts, trying to have courage even with the bullet on his back and Zayn gone. “But I truly don’t understand why you’re doing all this just because one of you got fired from a job.”

“Ha, please,” Ben says. “It wasn’t just because I got fired from a job. It was because Cohen is a jerk who kept paying the workers there minimum wage when he had _gold_ hidden in there. He could’ve at least given us a raise, and he didn’t. So naturally I had to steal the gold I deserved.”

Liam snorts. “So the manager of a job you worked at wouldn’t give you a raise even though he could afford it. Honestly, _every_ corporation does that. Is that the only work experience you’ve had or something?”

He knows he’s punching over his weight here, but honestly. Does Ben not realize this is how like 99% of corporations work?

“Maybe so,” Ben agrees. “But I deserved that gold. And Sebastian was smart. He knew something was up even if the police couldn’t find anything in my house other than iron pyrite and Club Feet towels.

“So he sent someone I thought was my friend in my house to take the iron pyrite and the towels,” he continues. “Turns out, Sebastian has a power of his own; to reverse spells cast on objects. And he got the money and the gold back. But now, we’re taking it back. As soon as we kill every last one of you.”

Liam whimpers, helpless and pretty sure he’s about to die. His suspicions are confirmed when Ben and Meredith wave their arms a weird way and the smell of burning starts stinging the air.

“They’re setting the ship on fire!” calls one of the couples, everybody else starting to freak out.

“No.” Liam falls to the ground, tears in his eyes as he looks straight ahead at all the innocent people – including Louis (wide awake now, albeit still wounded) and Niall – who are going to die.

He thinks back to that dream where Zayn left him via text and he drowned in his tears. He thinks this is even worse – not only him dying, but tons of innocent people too, including his best friends.

“Don’t leave me Zayn,” he mumbles to himself, ready to admit defeat and have those be his last words like in the dream. “I love you.”

Suddenly, Zayn appears in front of him and smiles. “I’m not going anywhere, and neither are you,” he whispers, winking.

Before Liam can question it, the Winstons notice Zayn. “Ugh, another one?” Meredith complains. “Let’s get ‘em!”

They aim their powers at Zayn, but he turns invisible, and Liam isn’t sure how because he couldn’t move, but one of the Winstons must’ve aimed their powers at Liam’s back, because he feels a sting and then… a completely healed back. No bullet in sight.

Liam only allows himself to think about it for a few moments because he knows they could just as easily shoot him again, with either their powers or guns, so he immediately bursts into action, just running every which way to distract them while he thinks up a plan.

“That’s enough!” Ben shouts, trying to aim at Liam. “This ends now.”

“I’d have to agree,” Zayn appears suddenly, holding onto Ben and Meredith’s hands tight so they can’t move them. “Lightning, quick! Get the gold from their pockets and grab that cord in the corner over there.”

Liam obliges, taking the gold and putting it in his own pocket. He grabs the cord Zayn was talking about and ties it around Ben and Meredith enough that they won’t die, but also won’t be able to escape or use their powers.

He’s out of breath and collapsing on the ground, and when he notices Zayn is sitting next to him, he can’t stop staring and smiling. Zayn’s eyes are so beautiful, brown as early morning coffee, and Liam feels like they sparkle more than diamonds. All he wants to do is just lean in closer-

Niall clears his throat. Liam and Zayn whip around quickly. “Hey, guys, not that this isn’t inspiring or anything, but you’ve forgotten one thing.” He motions to the side with shaky hands. The ship is about to be burned down.

Right, of course. How could Liam have gotten lost in Zayn’s eyes so much he didn’t even notice the room was burning? He quickly recovers though, motioning for Zayn to hold onto him.

Liam and Zayn speed-fly the passengers (including the villains) up way above the ship, landing on one of the clouds once they think it’s far enough. They’re just in time to watch the ship go down in flames.

Liam can practically hear Zayn pouting and looks down to see he’s correct. “What’s wrong?”

“We weren’t able to save the captain. Monty Cooper,” Zayn says sadly.

Liam looks back and forth between his arms and realizes Zayn’s right. They saved pretty much all the other passengers, but weren’t able to save the captain.

“…Oh.” Liam has a moment of silence for Monty Cooper, and then says, “Well, he would be proud of us for working together to save the passengers and the gold, yeah?”

“Yeah,” Zayn agrees.

Things are silent again for a few moments, and then Louis says, “Not that this isn’t relaxing or anything, but I would really like to be on solid ground, preferably in a doctor’s office so my side can be checked on.”

Everybody else starts laughing, including Zayn and Liam. “Alright,” Liam agrees. “Yeah, Zap, let’s take these people down to the shore.”

“Oh really?” Zayn teases. “I thought I’d just drop them all in the ashes that remain from the fire.” With a fake offended face from Liam though, Zayn laughs and starts flying them down to the shore.

***

A few hours and a few calls to Simon and doctors later, Ben and Meredith are behind bars at a superhero-specific jail, the gold is in Sebastian Cohen’s hands again, Louis’ in the hospital with Niall by his side, and all the passengers are safe in their homes.

Zayn and Liam had to turn invisible and carefully fly through the window of Liam’s house so they could put on regular clothes, since all their other regular clothes were destroyed in the fire. Now they’re both just kind of lounging on Liam’s couch in comfortable silence.

“You know what the best part about the ship being torn to bits is?” Zayn asks suddenly.

“Hmm?” Liam hums in response, not really able to think of anything good that came out of it, other than the passengers being safe.

“That ridiculous picture of you and me at your thirteenth birthday is gone forever,” Zayn chuckles loudly. Liam smiles and pulls the picture out from his chest. “…What? How did you?”

“I kept it inside my suit the whole time,” Liam responds proudly, adding a cheesy, “Close to my heart, just like you are.”

Zayn cracks up, getting to the point where you don’t even make a sound because whatever it is is so funny. “That, is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard. I love it.”

“Thank you, I’ll be here all week.” Liam fake-bows.

Zayn laughs a bit more, shaking his head fondly, and then they diverge back into comfortable silence. Liam’s once again taken aback by how amazing Zayn’s face is, how much he wants to waste time just counting every single eyelash and kissing every single cheekbone.

He’s not sure how much time passes before Zayn speaks again. “So, Lightning Zap save the day again, huh?”

Liam snorts at the combination of their superhero names. “Guess we do.”

Zayn is smiling but quickly turns into a frown. “I’m really sorry for messing around when I knew the ship was in trouble. I don’t know what I was thinking…”

“Hey,” Liam tries, wrapping his arms around Zayn. “It’s okay, alright? I mean, it’s not _okay_ , but I forgive you. What matters is we got all of them to safety in time, yeah?”

“Yeah,” Zayn nods, smiling sadly. “We did. Another mission successful. But…” He switches between looking at Liam’s lips and looking at his eyes and Liam really wishes he knew what Zayn’s thinking right now.

“Now that we’re done with the mission,” Zayn’s bringing his face closer and closer to Liam’s until, finally, their noses are pressed against each other and Liam feels his breath hitching. He almost doesn’t catch it when Zayn whispers, “Does that mean we have to stop dating now?”

Liam can’t believe Zayn actually said that. He’s been waiting to hear those words – well, maybe not those exactly, but words that imply this _isn’t_ just fake to him anymore, and Liam isn’t losing his mind for forming a real crush on Zayn.

“I hope not,” Liam barely gets out.

Zayn grins widely at that response and puts his lips on Liam’s lips. Liam tries to memorize every second of it – the way Zayn’s lips feel when pressed against Liam’s, the way they taste of chocolate chip cookies, and the way Liam’s heart feels too: beating so hard and quick, never wanting this moment to end.

When it does end though, Zayn just stares at him for a bit, looking at Liam like he’s his entire world, and Liam doesn’t think it’s just his imagination this time.

“I’m glad we don’t,” Zayn says, gently feeling Liam’s cheeks. “Have to stop dating, that is. Because you owe me a real cuddling session, when we’re not both sleep-deprived and struggling to keep our eyes open.”

“Well,” Liam jumps off the couch, motioning for a now pouting Zayn to do the same. After Zayn stands up though, Liam lays right back down and opens up his arms. “I seem to recall you saying I’m the big spoon.”

Zayn giggles at that, and it’s the cutest thing Liam’s ever heard. The two of them cuddle like that for hours, only getting up when Sophia tells Liam it’s time for dinner. After dinner though, they immediately head back up to cuddle some more and stay like that all night, falling asleep to the touch of each other’s warmth and the sound of each other’s heart beats.

Liam has a dream in the alternate universe where he’s a boyband member again. This time, Zayn’s presenting an award to him, Niall, Louis, and Harry, and giving Liam a large kiss on the lips (which the other three tease him about later).

He likes this dream much better.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you liked it. :) Also I'm 100% open to constructive criticism on how I could've done better with the fake dating trope, since I definitely want to write more for it in the future. Not sure I'll write the superhero trope again, hahaha, but you're more than welcome to leave constructive criticism on that too. Thank you. <3


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